Thursday, 28 February 2013

The "Golden Ratio" mix started life as a concept set - to be sent to noisniks Droid & Zvuku of www.weareie.com. The plan in Droid's words was to "send me six of these, 6-10 minutes each, that we'll then take to the studio to process". My end of the bargain was complete, but Droid was so busy with family life he had to cancel.

The total runtime is 1hr, 1 minute, 3 seconds. I ensured there would be
space for overlapping, processing and FX from any remixer. So that's the craic of the "Golden Ratio"...

~ Who is up for remixing any of these six parts included in the ZIP file? :)

For certain - you can listen to the whole set on an 'as is' basis. Please share on Facebook (I don't use it), SoundCloud link if possible, talk about the mix. I think it's my best yet in 9 years of heavily mixing. I wonder who can come up with a fresh set from these parts though? ;)

Be well, and thanks for reading and consuming "Golden Ratio". Dedicated to Droid and Zvuku - bless, lads.

Friday, 15 February 2013

I'm glad releases like this exist, I really am. For all its ditzy paint
flecking, watercolouring the woodblock rhythms, Synkro displays a deeply
human connection to mentality with "Acceptance". It's a symptom no less
present than on the eponymous "Acceptance", with the vocal "I just wish
people could accept each other for what they are on the inside" a
precluding and idiomatically noble excursion into New Age Dubstep. But
forget the tags, what dominantly breaks Synkro significantly from the
norm of form is unrivalled.

Lapses of pure time signature or sequencer signposts keep the grooves
mixed up in a layer of foggy fudge, the higher plain being nodded to
here Dub Techno with lyrical accent smarts. Synkro's sound is as much a
discombobulation of Dubstep as a transmuting to Ambient, taking a step
off presets and carving a niche for himself. Apollo is an appropriate
label: once home to "Atmospheres And Soundtracks" by Eno(s) and Daniel
Lanois, the current climate sees the post-Dubstep - indeed,
post-everything generation pack the dance in a hailstorm.

Hand-machinery percussion that sounds like a razor trimming a flowing
beard; operatic gasp-gasms of voice that keep the 4/4 tidily based;
swooning, swooping, bassy pads cloying at the fundamental 4 bar/16 bar
exploitations of "For Her" - a real party viber or gone off jive? It's
the former, taking a "Doctor Detroit Techno" reverence to reverb as the
production is nuanced and considered. Timbres of the handclaps are
doused with a delightful delay to accentuate the vocal samples, and the
bassline works really well together with the drums. This theme carries
into "I Know", with more sonic information: "I know you're sick and
tired", yet it continues to plait a big room Deep House metronome, with
seeming weaves of horns, synths treading Hinduist levels, jabbing bass
stabs wub-wubbing over the lead. "Rush" is anything but rushed, a
slower tempo, passionate kiss of chilled House. These three tracks are
no fodder - they belong in any Electronica enthusiast's collection.

It's not 1997 any more, for some D&B's golden era with the rise of
syncopated Techstep. Scale would fit right in, marrying the electronic
clatter of early Technical Itch with the forward propulsion of Decoder.
This three track EP hefts around the 168bpm mark - "Blacklight"
benefiting from a low torque / high frequency modulated bassline that
plays tricks with time and space. "Mutated Soul" mashes up the Apache,
doing a 3/4 time (where half-step and double time mix), whereas "Melting
Point" is perceptually eager to lock itself to pure two-step but
doesn't quite compute, sampling Goldfrapp, coming across fresher as a
result. The music in this EP deserves vinyl if it was a possibility from
Omni Music; for now Chris Eschaton is just going to keep on keeping on
with hearty goodness by the sounds of it.

Thursday, 14 February 2013

An interesting one this. Relatively new member J12 asked "we talk just the name not the artist itself...". His choices are "Photek... and Dillinja ;)" It immediately got me to question why we like artist names initially, or if they're just extensions of a sound we came to like. Stuff including phonetics of the name can weave into the sound of the producer when we listen to them, when we're not listening to them, and when we cross paths.

My choice was easy: Ateleia. I had built such a strong connection with the syllabic associations of "At" and "telephony" in shorthand that, combined with the most moving music I have ever listened to, Ateleia straight away sprung up like a floodlight in the mind. My second choice would be Oneohtrix Point Never, purely by coincedence that he was front-covered in The Wire for February, and some previous liking of Daniel's music.

From reading the other 23 responses, we can see that humour and novelty value play roles in why people like certain names over others'. "I like these mostly because they make me laugh..." says Ian Patterson. There are names making others laugh - we see Statto and Sir Loris Of Crowthorne laughing about cube's inclusion of "Andy C". "I always thought Phantom Audio was a great name for a label as well." adds NVious.

On the whole, the names and their subject matter have a certain originality to them, something seemingly unborrowed. Contribute your name here for more opinions.

Things I'm thankful for: A roof over my head, one that's long-term. Parents and a sister who love me, despite my faults. A stable buoy to finances, so I won't get into debt. A safe manner about me, where I don't intend anyone harm. A sense of unconditional values towards those I love. Having the capacity to work from home, being a music journalist. Good food in Oxford where I live. People who have stayed true to me regardless of any fallouts or confusions we've had. Learning to cope with my schizophrenia to a level where I can occasionally go out for longer than half an hour at a time. Music therapy with my keyboard and its' sounds. Foreground

Thursday, 7 February 2013

An excellent start to the year for SubVersion's "SV Recommends" series, the last by Slowdive's Simon Scott. This time it's an Alternative and 80s New Wave selection from upcoming artists White Blush, their debut S/T released Winter 2012. I said on Fluid Radio back then: "I’ve been really impressed by this release, and best of all it’s in time
for Xmas, and it’s “Name your price” on Bandcamp. Go get some, tame your
inner vampire, and let the ghosts of halloween come out at night so you
can fixate on what pumps the blood to the mind. Utterly
non-forgettable, White Blush turns in a corker here – 'heaven is a place
on Earth with you'".

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

My happiness for Delilah's "From The Roots Up" came through anticipation. In his article "Let The Deer In The City" for Fluid Radio, Fred Nolan explains of the shivers you get out of anticipation, and how it's neurochemistry. Those shivers are present on tenth track, "Love You So", Paloma Stoecker's follow-up to "Go", her Chaka Khan reassembler piece of "Ain't Nobody". But there's certainly a body for her muse, and it's not empty or larger-than-life music. Stoecker manages to carve "beauty in the rain", as on the excellent "Shades Of Grey", much better than the book of similar name could do for sexuality and innocence.

As I write this Paloma (Delilah's real name) is approaching 23 years old, this putting her above Adele in terms of writing a coherent record that touches traditional themes of love; feeling choked by love (see "Breathe" and its' svelt Dubstep unfurling of a foxy rhythm); and insecurity. Delilah speaks of insecurities' enigma in her SoulTV interview - how it's difficult to put trust in yourself. She also says there that she has over 150 tracks written. If they're anywhere near as good as the 12 on "From The Roots Up", they're worthy listening. "Inside My Love" by Minnie Ripperton, still, remains the only cover version in the whole set.

It's a song sung with an ease and originality, like all the songs on "From The Roots Up", and could easily have been her own. "If I had faith in my own voice, I was still getting used to the sound of my voice singing" she says in the selected interview. Ultimately she has a commonality with grasping commonality, and this consequently transcends, producing a dice-rolling effect on the tones of the words, where she decides to vary range. The range of styles is principally rooted in Pop-Soul, Trip-Hop, with meddling of the Drum & Bass and Dubstep tempos. What's certain: this is the beginning of a rooted musical future for the young-star.

Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Pelt,
on "Effigy" hold candle to since 2009 departed guitarist, Jack Rose.
It's a work that looks at the vulnerability of human consciousness, as
for one the first piece I don't like at all - but it's only one piece.
Strings seethe with directional polish of peanut butter toothpaste, in
disharmony with the LP's base spread: transgressive drone-Folk. The
second, "Wings Of Dirt" is totally different, positively - soothing,
Folksy, rhythmically svelt, and a starting of much more harmonic
watering on the lawn of "Effigy", effigy being mounds of grass
accumulated over long periods of time, in historic counterbalance to a
myriad of events.

This Pelt record was released in October 2012, a
time when I had reviewed Mindspan - "The Aeon Expanse" for Fluid Radio.
A time, consequentially, when lots of (heart)beat driven music was
edging into crop on its own mound, with Ambient hardy perennial. Pelt's
music, besides the first (un)tune, is best described as adapting the
furnishings of musique concrete, then playing a cold call on itself
within a context of new friends (instruments, tunings and technical
'smithery) in its ongoing duration. Virtuosity of the instruments such
as piano ("Last Toast Before Capsizing" is all lower pitched hamming on
the keys, in undulating microcosm motions) and guitar (the epicentric
part), with harmonium channelled like barred MMA heat, racking up the
energy and gets the percussion to interweave an almost Turkish-y tone.
"Spikes And Ties" as the third, begins to converse near to Cindytalk but
doesn't go further - it sounds like it belongs in an Improv workshop
rather than a fully-realised record. "Spikes" is no description for
stasis, but maybe "Ties" is.

For
being tied to Pelt's "Effigy" is the trying task. It feels wracked with
a very conscious pain, and at one hour 42 minutes in length it's
unlikely to hold together as a focused work for many. I've listened
three times, and while rudiments like "Ashes Of A Photograph" make me want to
listen to it again, the point in masked: it neither expands in really
impressive fantasised fashion from previous Pelt, nor works as a full
album. Maybe I'm being too harsh - I'm sure the first track has much to
do with it - but as a whole "Effigy" sounds like a missed opportunuty.
Sorry guys.Listen at The Wire archives

Billy
The Kid has a tattoo with the word "Lost" on her arm - fact. She
explained on The Hour, a Vancouver show that it's about making your own
map, going through life like you just stumbled into something. A shame
then that this wasn't more the case for her potential audience tonight,
because she turns in an excellent performance, wrought with the
seductive wit of Joni Mitchell, and poppier starlet non-warble like
Delilah in equal measure.

Support to The Long Way Home tour
invites Jordan 'O Shea, a young lad who's been playing on bills with
acoustic songsmiths like My Crooked Teeth recently. "Wintervention" gets
us going as he tunes into stolen lights, stolen love, "Summer bring her
back to me". Performing with a non-waily energy that peaks at just the
right points while indebting itself to where the wail ends: with
Radiohead, and Foals at their shrewdest. He occasionally loses his grip
on the lyricism but when he's in full flow he can sound like bottled
Ritz water.

Billy The Kid is also shrewd, but for something
else: her track ordering. For instance,"These City Lights", a
lovely Country Blues ballad she plays without drums and harmonica accompaniment - just on guitar -
becomes greater the centrepiece sounded slightly later in, rather than at the beginning. A pattern
shuffling is hence created where you can build your own maps, if you
dared. And if you cared to deal with her meaty metaphors like "people as
sand / slipping through my hands", you're repayed. One word though:
attitude. "If I close my eyes, I worry / do the stars all disappear?"
sang Jordan earlier in the show. While Billy Pettinger prefers a toke
with her collaborators Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr and R.E.M: "what are you,
bummed?" in response to the turnout. It raises a wry smile, but the
lasting impression is thus: just because you've played and produced with
top artists Billy, don't make you no funstar. Mixed feelings on an
evening that should have been teeming.